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Thursday, July 2, 2009

Israeli Couscous with Grilled Veggies

I just sort of threw this together one night, and it became an instant hit so I wanted to make it again for the BBQ. I had never prepared Israeli couscous before so I just treated it like pasta because it is actually is a pasta product rather than a grain. This dish is very versatile, it can be served warm or cold, and you can substitute a wide variety of veggies, cheeses and seasonings. The zucchini, summer squash and red peppers are great, but mushrooms or eggplant would also be a nice addition. How about some Italian dressing for marinating the veggies or even just for dressing the couscous? If you try something different, let me know how it goes, I'm always up for a new variation.

Israeli Couscous with Grilled Veggies

Original Recipe

2 Zucchini, sliced (I like to slice it long-ways into planks b/c it makes it easier to flip on the grill without them falling through the grates)

1 Summer Squash, sliced (same as zucchini)

2 Red Peppers, seeded and cut so that you can lay it out flat

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

1 cup Israeli couscous

Goat Cheese (I used Garlic Herb goat cheese)

Parmesan Cheese

Preheat the grill. Toss zucchini and red pepper with olive oil, salt and pepper, and put them on the grill. Cook the Israeli couscous in boiling salted water for about 6 minutes or until done, then drain off water. Add goat cheese and parmesan to taste, and stir so they melt into all the warm couscous. If it's too dry, add a little olive oil.

Once the veggies are done, take them off the grill and cut them into bite size pieces. Add the veggies to the couscous and mix. Give it a taste, does it need more salt, pepper or cheese, if so, add some until you get the right flavor. The leftovers are good warm or cold.

If you have too many veggies for the amount of couscous, you can always save them for later to use on pizza, in pasta or on top of some crusty bread.

1 comment:

If you use a finer couscous (I don't know if it has a name, but I have some that is definitely finer than Israeli couscous), you just need 1 cup of water for 1 cup of couscous (possibly more for larger amounts of couscous but I find 1 cup is a lot). You just boil the water, throw in the couscous, stir, cover, remove from the burner, wait 5 minutes, uncover and fluff with a fork, and you're done. There shouldn't be any water left over. It's amazingly easy to make.